1,500 troops sent to Basilan in war vs Abu Sayyaf

Joel Guinto
INQUIRER.net
First posted 17:32:13 (Mla time) January 19, 2007

MANILA, Philippines -- THE MILITARY will transfer an entire Marine brigade, or roughly 1,500 troops, from Central Mindanao to the island province of Basilan, further tightening its grip on bailiwicks of the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf, an official said Friday.

The 1st Marine Brigade, originally stationed in Marawi City, will be shipped to Basilan next week, exchanging places with the Army’s 103rd Brigade, Navy Flag Officer-in-Command Vice Admiral Rogelio Calunsag said.

It will join two the 2nd and 3rd Marine Brigades in the hunt for the bandits. The two brigades are part of a military dragnet in Sulu Island, where Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah leaders are believed to be hiding, Calunsag told a news conference at the Navy headquarters in Manila.

"That is the purpose of this [deployment], for us to have a heightened, sustained operation [against the bandits]," Calunsag said.

Calunsag said the transfer was part of the Navy's Fleet-Marine concept, aimed at consolidating Marine forces in the provinces of Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, and Basilan, known bailiwicks of the Abu Sayyaf.

On Thursday, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo vowed to finish off the Abu Sayyaf with a "hand of steel."

This followed the death of several Abu Sayyaf leaders in clashes with the military in the last two weeks, including the extremists' spokesman, Jainal Sali alias Abu Sulaiman, who is on the US and Philippines’ most-wanted lists and with a $5-million bounty on his head from Washington.

Sulaiman, an engineer, masterminded some of the most deadly terror attacks and kidnappings in the Philippines. They include a bombing that gutted a ferry in February 2004, killing 116 people in the second deadliest terror attack in Southeast Asia, and the abduction of three Americans and 17 Filipino tourists and workers from a resort island in 2001.

Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani was believed to have been killed in a September 4 encounter in Patikul, Sulu. Tissue samples from his alleged remains, which were dug up in the area in December, have been subjected to DNA testing.

Calunsag clarified that only nine Abu Sayyaf members, not 10 according to preliminary military reports, were killed in an encounter with the Marines in Patikul last Thursday.

He said three soldiers were also killed while four bandits were captured and detained at the 3rd Marine Brigade headquarters in Jolo, Sulu.

One of the captives include Alpin Sahibul, son of Abu Sayyaf sub-commander Tandah Sahibul, who led the bandits in the Thursday firefight along with sub-commanders Abu Pula and Doc Abu, Calunsag said.

Calunsag identified the nine fatalities as Ibnu Karain, Ogie Ahmad, Taib Kaddam, Rudy Julalih, Jun Samsula, Kaddam Usman, Mamee Julalih, a certain Ablay, and a certain Salail.

He identified one of the slain soldiers as Corporal Enrico dela Cruz.

Basilan's mountains and thick forests had been the hideouts of the Abu Sayyaf, but they have been largely driven to seek refuge with others on Jolo in the wake of US military training and humanitarian operations that started in 2002.

A US-backed offensive was launched on Jolo in August, targeting top Abu Sayyaf leaders and two members of the Indonesia-based terror network Jemaah Islamiyah -- Dulmatin and Umar Patek -- both blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people in Bali, Indonesia.

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